Getting ‘in’ to Coaching

But how do you get into coaching?

I’m often asked, by my colleagues, “How did you get in to coaching?” or “How can I get in to it, too?” and once I’ve dealt with the ‘are they asking me sarcastically’ debate (How did youget in to coaching?) I find that there’s no real ‘quick answer’ to something that, to some, should be easy to respond to.

In my opinion, the pivotal point with any form of coaching and training role is that there has to be a natural desire and ‘want’, when it comes to helping other people.

Always helping others

For me, I often found, that I always went out of my way to help others and this was even reflected in school reports and the messages that would be relayed, from the teachers;‘Daniel has taken this person, or that person under his wing and is a great support and help to the rest of the class’. I had no real understanding, at that stage, as to what it really meant as I felt I was simply being ‘me’. I did, however, often find myself getting praise for such“great news”.

As school life progressed, I found less people spoke about the role of coaching and support and when it came to seeking career advice, I don’t seem to recall a single person speaking to me about the possibility of doing a job, which involved training/coaching or support, in any capacity; unless, of course, you wanted to be involved with sport, in some way.

During those moments in life, when it all boils down to making such big decisions on what you’d like to do for a job and choosing whether to pursue those dreams, heading off to College and University, I did just that; I picked my career path and off I went (at this stage, it had nothing to do with coaching or training) As time went on, however, I found I lost interest in what I’d set out to do and I ended up doing ‘Office Work’, just to pass the time, whilst I had a rethink about what I wanted to do.

Avoiding the negative stigma around ‘office work’

To some, ‘office work’ lacks that real ambition and there’s a negative stigma attached to the fact that it can be a ‘dead end’ job. If you allow those messages to become prevalent, then yes, of course that’s going to be the case. If you ask me, however, with the right frame of mind, desire, company and ambition, it can prove to be very rewarding.

I decided, after seven years of working in various different roles with one organisation, that a new challenge was needed and I joined MarketMakers. I joined as a ‘Quality Assurance Assistant’ and quickly found that this role suited me, as I was able to offer support to my colleagues, in the form of ‘Call Monitoring Feedback’. It was during this period that my coaching abilities gained recognition and I was presented with an opportunity to join the Learning & Development team.

I jumped at the chance, as it meant I could provide further support to people within the organisation, helping out wherever possible. I still remember the ‘buzz’ I got from my first ever side-by-side coaching session and Power Session that I facilitated and here I am, nearly four years later and I still feel the same, if not even stronger. As my abilities have enhanced, so has my desire to want to help bring out the best in others.

The reward of helping others

In my opinion, I have a great job and in answer to the opening question, “How do you get in to coaching?”, in short, I don’t believe it’s something you can just ‘get in to’; I feel that you have to want to help people, thrive on other people doing well and have a natural desire to see people succeed. Only then, can you really ‘get in to’ coaching/training.

Are you satisfied in your current role? Speak to one of our recruitment team who will be happy to help you achieve your career goals in a rewarding company. Head over to our Careers page or email your CV to our internanal recruiters at recruitment@marketmakers.co.uk